The lower safety-guard on most or all hand-held circular power saws is a necessity in order to protect the operator. It is unfortunate, but a reality is that in the construction business, and in home usage, in some instances the lower safety-guard is a liability and a hindrance for the operator.
To lift the lower safety-guard, the operator must first lay the saw on the material to cut, lift the guard with the left hand until the blade is in a “free-cutting position, and then pull the trigger (using the right hand) to begin cutting the material. As a result of this procedure, the line that the operator desires to cut cannot always be seen, and because the operator must use his or her left hand to lift the lower safety-guard, the operator is unable to either hold the material being cut (e.g., when trimming the end of a 2′×4′ piece of wood) or to push the saw forward with his or her left hand. This limits the precision performance of the saw, in terms of the accuracy of cutting as well as in the ease of cutting. It also hinders the productive output of the operator.
Often, operators, both commercial and home users, will either “pin” the lower safety-guard in the “up” position, use a small piece of wood to shim the lower safety-guard in the “up” position, or even remove the lower safety-guard entirely. This is a major safety infraction, as the lower safety-guard is made inoperable and ineffective as a result of such pinning or shimming. If the saw should be placed on the ground and the blade has not come to a complete stop, this unsafe procedure could allow the saw to run across the operator's foot. Moreover, as happens frequently, when the saw blade binds while cutting, the saw will “kick back” towards the operator, placing the operator in a position in which he or she is exposed to being cut by the turning blade.
O.S.H.A. presently imposes a fine on commercial users who have “pinned” or shimmed their lower safety-guards up, have removed their lower safety-guards, or in any way have altered the saw in a manner such that the lower safety-guard cannot return to the “closed” position (i.e., covering the blade). However, even with the threat of such fines, operators continue to take measures to avoid having the lower safety-guard return to the proper, or down, position.